A semi-guest note on a pest infestation nuisance county court case involving leaseholders. Interesting on both liability and quantum. Ojo & Ojo v London Borough of Hackney. County Court at Clerkenwell & Shoreditch 4 November 2015 The Claimants were...
Human Rights Update
Zammit & Attard Cassar v Malta [2015] ECHR 751 This is the latest in the sequence of cases dealing with rent controls and breaches of A1P1 (previous note here). The property in this instance was let under a commercial lease and in 2002, the applicants...
Nuisance and reasonable steps
As an illustration of the perils of a claim in nuisance, here is Yianni v Shakeshaft [2014] EWCA Civ 1639 [Not on Bailii. We've seen a transcript] Ms Y is the leaseholder of a flat below that of Mrs & Mr Shakeshaft, who had a tenant in theirs. There had...
Human Rights Round-Up Part 2
Lemo and others v Croatia [2014] ECHR 755 (10/7/2014) Both the facts and the outcome in this case are highly reminiscent of Brezec v Croatia (see our note here). The applicants had occupied flats under protected tenancies from the 1970s until their eviction...
Eviction: “Sexual, athletic and squeaking noises”
In a case that recalls the 'unnatural' noises emanating from Concord, Tyne and Wear, a German Court was faced with a tricky decision in a claim for possession. The ground given was that the tenant had installed a 'very old' sex swing in 2012. And, despite a...
Extremely loud and incredibly close
This is about loud and disturbing noises. I was going to write up Coventry & Ors v Lawrence & Anor [2014] UKSC 13 when it came out in February, given that it made some significant changes to common law nuisance claims. But it was 249 paragraphs and...
Fiddler under the roof
Yeung v Potel & Anor [2014] EWCA Civ 481 A Court of Appeal case on the problems with the edges of demises and reserved rights of access, involving, in this case, a land grab above a ceiling and a demand to access the flat above. Flats 3 and 4 were part...
Disrepair: La luta continua!
2013 was a difficult year for claimant disrepair. Changes in legal aid funding have made it all but impossible to pursue a disrepair claim under legal aid alone, as funding is only available for an order to carry out repairs to where there is serious risk to...
Tempest Tossed?
Does the landlord's repairing duty under Section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 extend to damage by fire, flood or tempest? LB Hammersmith and Fulham v Carty is a County Court judgment reported on Hardwicke Chamber's site which raises some interesting...
Not smelling of roses
Dobson & Ors v Thames Water Utilities Ltd (No 2) [2011] EWHC 3253 (TCC) This is very late as a post. My excuse is that the judgment runs to well over 200 pages, it is very complex and, frankly, other stuff happened. This has sat as a part finished draft...
It never rains but it pours
The ECHR has recently delivered its judgement in Kolyadenko v Russia , which (apart from demonstrating the reach of the ECHR jurisdiction to the remote corners of Asia) is a useful case applying principles we would recognise under the rule in Rylands v...
Pigeons in the flat alas*
Siveter v Wandsworth LBC (2012) CA (Civ Div) 16/02/2012 [Not on Bailii yet, just a Lawtel note] S was the secure tenant of Wandsworth in a 4th floor flat. She had complained to Wandsworth about pigeons nesting outside her flat, in a cupboard that had an...